Enter the Storm
by kui katsu
Summary: what happened to enishi after it all ended....or was it really the end?
1. Chapter 1

Heishin crumbled the note into a ball, like all letters before hand, it said the same: 

"Enishi was not in the location searched"

Heishin cursed to himself, he had tried all the obvious and unobvious places to find where Enishi could be, Heishin had to ensure Enishi was dead, he would not be able to keep hold of the syndicate if Enishi were to return. Heishin still had so many places he could search through... the place of Enishi's birth, where his sister was murdered, the estate that Enishi was adopted in to, but he had no idea where those places were. That bastard Enishi had covered up the locations of these places all to well, no one in the syndicate knew anything about where these places were, much less that Enishi's had had a sister. Without Enishi the syndicate began to fall apart, mistakes had began to show up all over the place, and the police had started to pull the syndicate apart, some say even from the inside. 

Heishin leaned forward resting his chin on his enclosed hands. During the two months that he was in prison the syndicate had changed greatly. Some branches of it broke off once word of Enishi and his disappearance had gotten around, most of those groups had been found and dispersed by Saitou Hajime, the police officer who had played a significant role in his capture. Saitou Hajime.. Shinmori Aoshi.. Sagara Sanosuke.. and the late Hitokiri Battousai, now Himura Kenshin.. Heishin cursed each one of them, he now had his own reasons for hating them, especially Himura Kenshin. If Enishi hadn't lost to the Battousai he would have been able to keep a stronger hold of the syndicate. Heishin's focus was broken by a knock at the door 

"Heishin-sama, Arei-san wishes to speak with you" Heishin felt his blood go cold, Arei, possibly the most loyal member of the syndicate to Enishi. She had been pressuring him to find Enishi ever since he had returned, and always criticizing him for not being able to pull the syndicate together. Heishin feared she might try to kill him if he was unable to either find Enishi or bring the syndicate back to what it used to be. He would have killed her if not for her popularity within the syndicate, she was now considered the second in command by the remaining syndicate members. Heishin reconfirmed that his remaining two guards were still standing next to him. 

"Alright, let her through" Heishin sat up straight and tried to hide his fear behind a more auspicious face. The door opened and the man bowed to Heishin, then to Arei as she entered. Heishin grinned slightly as she entered, in hope's of furthering his disguise. 

Arei didn't care how hard Heishin tried to hide his fear, she always knew it was there, not that she really cared about Heishin at all. No, she only let him live because he was currently all that was left holding the syndicate, her home, together, if he did not prove to her that he was a capable leader she would do away with him and take his place. 

"You didn't find Enishi-sama." It was more of a statement then a question, she knew that Enishi wouldn't go to such a place as Kyoto, she didn't even want to go with Heishin, but something told her to. "Enishi-sama wouldn't be hiding Heishin, I told you that, there's no point in looking in such pointless places."

Arei looked at almost blankly, but there was something behind it that always gave Heishin the chills. He had only noticed it after he was freed from his encampment, he could only assume it was something to do with Enishi's disappearance. You stupid girl, Enishi has likely killed himself by now, without revenge that man had nothing. Heishin didn't dare say something like that to her, even with his two guards next to him, he was unsure of her skill, but did know that Enishi had given her some training and that was enough to hold him back. 

"Searching for Enishi was not my only intension when I came here Arei." Heishin closed his eyes as he spoke, smiling to himself, his plan would work perfectly "As you know Shinmori Aoshi resides in Kyoto, along with the Oniwaban group. He was one of the men who played a role in our defeat." 

"Your defeat." Arei added in, knowing full well that Aoshi had never fought against Enishi, because if Aoshi had he would be dead. Heishin's eye twitched slightly at this comment, but quickly recovered himself and gave her a malicious smile. 

"Either way, revenge should be sought against all those who played a role, Aoshi will be the first. I have decided you will--" 

"Don't think I'm an idiot Heishin." Arei narrowed her eyes as she spoke "You think I'm not a skilled enough warrior to defeat Aoshi, it will be your way of killing me, and no one could blame you correct?" Heishin stared dumbfounded, how could she have known? "That's fine though," she said a small smile gracing her face "you are right to say that he did play a role during your defeat and revenge should be taken, without Aoshi things would have played out much differently. I will obey your request and assassinate Shinmori Aoshi." Arei bowed to Heishin and turned to leave, stopping at the door "For your sake I hope he knows something about where Enishi sama is." With that Arei exited the room, smiling to herself that she could provoke so much fear in the man. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Omasu!! Shiro is already ready! Hurry up!" 

"He is??" Omasu yelled in reply to Okon "that's not fair, he should have taken longer!!" 

"Why would he want to do that??" 

"It'd just be more polite! I wouldn't have to rush as quickly!" 

"Arg! Just wear this!" 

"That?? That would look--"

They had been like that for about half an hour now, leaving Shiro waiting outside in the orchard with Kuro and Okita. Shiro had asked Omasu if she would accompany him to dinner that night, so of course an hour afterwards everyone had found out about it, and made much more of hassle out of the situation then he wanted. 

"Maybe I should call it off for tomorrow, do it tomorrow?" Shiro said nervously, he would have been able to handle this a lot easier if Okita hadn't insisted Kuro and him come for "moral support" 

"Don't be silly" Okita said placing his arm around Shiro's shoulder "it's a good sign when a woman is having trouble picking out what she wears, it shows she wants to impress her man." Shiro looked over at Kuro, not being to sure if he should listen to the old man, Kuro simply nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. "Now I know you've been trained well in fighting being a member of the Oniwaban group, but you are very in experienced in how to work with the ladies, that's where I come in handy!" Okita said with his insessive laugh. Shiro's head fell over, this wasn't helping at all. Okita grabbed both Kuro and Shiro's heads, pulling them in close and spoke with a whisper "Now then, tonight it is likely to be raining, which can make for a very romantic setting, at the end of the date, when you are just about to get back to the Aoiya, you're going to want to.." Okita paused for a moment grinning to himself.

"OKITA!!" Shiro's loud screech could be heard throughout the Aoiya, Aoshi smiled behind his cup of tea, it was likely Okita was giving out advice on how to handle women again. Aoshi looked over at Misao, who had brought him the tea, she was smiling up at him and hadn't touched her tea. Aoshi gave her a very puzzled look, Misao shook her head whipping away the smile

"It's just.." Misao paused for a moment considering if it was ok to point out "You're smiling a lot more then you ever did before" _which isn't to hard to beat seeing how you never smiled before _Misao mentally added in, causing herself to giggle. Aoshi looked down at his tea, he hadn't noticed that, but she was right of course, perhaps she was having some effect on him.

"So desu ka..." Aoshi replied, even the way he talked sounded more open then it ever had before, it still had the same cold detached tone to it, but it seemed different then how it used to be. Misao had started visiting him much more frequently then before, staying in the temple with him for almost half the day, she had learned to be much more patient in the temple, hardly ever fidgeting in her seat anymore, she still tended to talk a lot, but that was to be expected. Aoshi and Misao both smiled drinking their tea as the same thought crossed their minds, it was almost as if they were switching places. Aoshi glanced out the temple door as he heard foot steps running up the stairs, 

  
"Misao! Come on!" Misao's face lit up as she heard Okon's voice "they left! We've gotta go quickly if we're going to be able to follow them, I think they caught on." Misao jumped to her feet, almost spilling her tea as she did. Misao went about quickly throwing her things on the tray she had brought up, she paused as she saw that Aoshi hadn't finished yet. 

"It's alright, I'll take it in later." Misao paused in her work and looked up at Aoshi, he had turned around in his seat and now faced the altar, Misao had a sudden urge to jump the man but her collar was grabbed by Okon and dragged from the temple. 

"Come on Misao!! It's starting to rain they'll be that much harder to follow now!" Misao didn't give her much notice, _ah Aoshi-sama... you're becoming so much nicer.. _Misao giggled _and it's all thanks to me, YAY!! _Misao spun around out of Okon's grip and ran into the Aoiya grabbing an umbrella 

"Alright then lets get going!" Misao gave Okon the victory sign, Okon caught on quickly nudging her a bit. 

  
"Ah this is working out so well, you're going to get Aoshi, Omasu is getting Shiro, and I'm gonna get." Okon sighed heavily a dazed look gracing her face "Hikooo-sama" Misao and Okon both scurried out of the Aoiya giggling to each other. 

Okita walked over to Kuro handing the larger man an umbrella, they had worked out that he would make sure Okon and Misao didn't make themselves to obvious that they were there, Shiro was having a hard enough time with this as is. Okita sighed as Kuro left, he was glad to see that they were becoming able to settle down now, it appeared that the past wars had finally been forgotten.

---------------------------------------------

Arei made her way down the street, both swords being carried at her side openly, she didn't have any need to conceal them with it raining this hard, most people would stay at home tonight and the police patrols would be very light, which seemed silly to her because this was the most important time to have them out and about. Arei reached the Aoiya, the rains had intensified greatly, making it almost impossible to see a few yards ahead, she liked fighting in the rain though, everything seemed so much more dramatic during the battle. 

The Aoiya was unlocked, either by mistake or just they felt no reason to do so, she wasn't sure. Everyone had left earlier in the day besides Okita and her target Shinmori Aoshi, that was good though, she didn't feel like bothering with anymore people then she had to today, she had to save some energy to finish Heishin, not much she reminded herself, but some. She made no attempt to hide her presence, she was curious to see how long it would take Aoshi to figure out she was there. The Aoiya was actually a nice looking Inn, she'd have to come and rest here sometime if she was ever in Kyoto again, hopefully they wouldn't be to disheartened about Aoshi's death that they closed down. Arei was rather disappointed that Aoshi hadn't shown up when she reached the back of the main building, she had expected him to have already shown up. 

Arei pushed the cloth door aside at the back of the Aoiya and froze abruptly, blood was dashed across the wall in front of her. Arei sighed shaking her head, it was likely that Heishin had intended to plant a trap for her in front of the Aoiya, but whoever he sent was discovered and therefore engaged in a battle, he was to predictable. Arei walked towards the temple, random splotches of blood leading her to it. Arei caught sight of a body lying at the foot of the temple, she couldn't tell if it was Aoshi or not until she was right up to it, because fresh blood ran over his face. She sighed, it wasn't, it was Okita, he lay there, eyes open, motionless, a deep gash likely from a katana across his chest. Arei placed two fingers on Okita's eyes, closing them, it was such a pity when old people died an unnatural death especially since they'd already made it that far. Arei stood up and walked away, rolling her eyes at her own stupidity, _you'd have likely ended up killing him anyways. _

Arei grew more solemn, if Aoshi was dead... she quickly ran into the temple and found him pinned to the ground by a katana through his stomach. Arei winced at the sight, both of his arms were covered at least halfway up to the elbow in blood. Whoever had attacked him hadn't gotten away unscathed. It was likely more than one person by the looks of it. She'd have to remember to look for them later. 

She examined his face closely, his eyes were closed, that was odd. She stared closer at his face. He was actually rather handsome, he was a little more towards pretty than her Enishi sama looked though. She thought absentmindedly of Enishi's face as she reached her hand out to touch Aoshi's hair. She pulled it back abruptly as she realized what she was doing, but not before she felt how soft it was. It was a little thicker than Enishi's but not as coarse as most, the blood matted in it added an interesting texture, she half smiled. 

Arei frowned at his battered body. There was more than just the Katana wound, which was to be expected, she didn't think something so simple could fell him. He had numerous cuts all over his body, many seemed to be made by smaller weapons than the Katana that had been left in his stomach. She narrowed her eyes as she saw a throwing needle in the base of his neck, almost more towards the shoulder. This was very suspicious. 

She pulled the needle out, it clung stubbornly for the first inch, but the rest slid easily out, slick with blood. It hadn't hit anything vital, except for a pressure point that is. She eyed Aoshi. He was breathing again, very faintly. Whoever had attacked must have taken off when they sensed her. They likely did this to make it appear they had completed their mission. They probably figured he'd die soon enough if he was disabled. She looked him up once more. It was likely true, he'd lost too much blood to live. No matter, he'd live long enough for her to get the information she needed. 

"Aoshi.." Arei moved her face down to his as she spoke so that he could better hear her. "Aoshi" she repeat more firmly, the man finally opened his eyes and glanced over at her, then up at the ceiling, it appeared that he had intended to lye there and die. 

"Misao?" He asked rather easily, he seemed to have amazing control over the pain. Arei shook her head, smiling at him, asking about her, that was cute.

"She's not back yet." Arei had learned about the two of them and the "situation" they had from the information the syndicate provided her, it was rather sad Aoshi would never get a chance to tell her, it was almost the same as what happened with her and.. Arei shook the thought away, there was no evidence that Enishi sama was dead 

Aoshi, tell me" Arei paused to make sure she had Aoshi's full attention "where did Enishi go?" Aoshi was really her last hope besides going to Kenshin, being a member of the Oniwaban group it was likely he kept tabs on Enishi's position. Aoshi glanced over at her studying the girls face for a moment, she was likely just a few years older then Kaoru, her hair fell about her face to just below her chin like light brown silk, but when the light hit it, it may have almost been red. In front of her face was a small spray of shorter hair that seemed to have a will of it's own, barely falling above her pale blue eyes. She was rather thin, but despite her appearance, she was likely little taller than Misao. She was older than Kaoru for sure... but something in her eyes was that of a haunted child. He winced in pain. 

"Enishi..." Aoshi paused taking in a large breath of air, talking was obviously becoming more painful to him "We didn't bother trying him... he's no longer a threat to anyone." Arei understood this, it was unlikely Enishi would ever seek revenge against Kenshin again. She stood to take her leave, she would let the man die in peace now, "What makes you think.." Aoshi closed his eyes as he spoke "What makes you think Enishi wants to be found?" 

Arei closed her eyes smiling to herself, she had considered this before, but was always able to ignore it seeing how it was just her thinking that. Having it pointed out made it weigh much heavier on her heart. She had no reply for the man, she didn't have one for herself either, it was very likely Enishi didn't want to be found by the syndicate, wanted to leave his life behind him and start anew.... Arei shook her head, no, that wasn't her Enishi sama, he wouldn't do something like that. 

Arei stood in the shadow's outside the Aoiya, she waited for the other residents of Aoiya to return. As she did she pondered about the recent events, she found it odd that Aoshi so easily talked to her about it, it was as if there was no surprise she was asking him about Enishi. Heishin really needed to learn when to mind his own business, now there was no way around it, Heishin would die. 

She didn't have to wait long for them to arrive, three members of the Oniwabanshuu, Misao Okon and Shiro came trudging through the muddy ground laughing about how they had "almost gotten caught". Two girls, by their looks she guessed them to be Misao and Okon quickly entered the Aoiya, Shiro paused glancing over in Arei's direction who retreated a bit farther into the darkness, he was more perceptive then his looks let on. He didn't act on his suspicion like she thought he should have, he entered behind the two, loud laughter could be heard, followed by silence... and then a young girls screaming out to the world, as if she'd lost everything in an instant.


	3. Chapter 3

Heishin shifted in his seat as he waited for Arei to return, he was surprised that she was able to finish the job so quickly...much less finish the job at all.... No matter, it didn't change his plan, against an opponent like Shinmori Aoshi and the Oniwaban group she could not have come out without being severely injured. Heishin snickered to himself, it was likely she couldn't even lift her sword, he would simply kill her, and then say she died from blood lose, it was a simple plan, but it would work. 

Heishin closed his eyes as he heard foot steps coming, he continuously had to remind himself that Suzaku stood towering over him, and Genbu waited in the far corner of the room for what he thought would be the perfect time to attack. If Arei was able to kill Aoshi that ment she was a more capable fighter then his two remaining Sushin.. Heishin ordered himself to shut up, he was becoming to paranoid, she had just fought against Aoshi, she would be horribly.... The door slowly opened and Arei slowly stepped into the room, glaring at him. 

__

What? She just fought AOSHI! Shinmori AOSHI! How is it the only thing she's coming back covered in is WATER??? Heishin tried to recover himself, but once he made eye contact with her he knew... she intended to kill him. Heishin reached out to Suzaku pulling on his sleeve, he couldn't bring himself to say anything... Suzaku stepped forward, pulling his dual Kodachi's out of his sleeve, and placing them in a defensive stance. Arei rested her arm laxly on her still sheathed swords, not seeming to consider Suzaku a threat. They stood there watching each other, Suzaku with his giant grin plastered across his face, Arei staring back almost blankly. Suzaku's grin widened, showing off his razor like teeth, 

"Thanks..." Arei said simply, and then quickly jumped to the side, barely dodging Genbu's extended staff. "you two were Genbu and Suzaku right?" Arei said looking them over, she didn't get nor expect a reply, so she continued "The problems you guys have a simple, Genbu you rely to much on finding an way of fighting that I won't be able to adjust to, but that would require you living long enough to figure one out. Suzaku, you expect me show off some special skill of mine, but that would be wasted on someone like you." Both of the Sushin's grins were quickly wiped off their face, and replaced by a much more solemn expression, obviously they hadn't counted on her knowing so much about them.. foolish of them to think. Arei had observed them all fight before, revealing their easily seen through tactics to her, 

Arei rushed forward at the two of them, swords being held down at either side, Suzaku moved to counter her attack, bringing his Kodachi's down at her. The fighters swords locked mid way, bringing them to what seemed to be a stale mate, almost at once the two broke away from one and other. Arei was quick to recover, and ran forward past the larger man, swords cutting into his side. Suzaku bent forward grasping his side, the blood quickly ran over his hand covering it almost completely. Heishin glanced over at Genbu who, like in his fight with that _boy _didn't seem to plan on acting until the end

  
"WHY AREN'T YOU DOING ANYTHING??" He seemed to screech, Genbu glanced over at him for a moment then looked back at his brother and Arei.

"I haven't observed her fight enough yet to be able to do any good..." Genbu admitted, "Suzaku has no intension of being able to winning in this fight Heishin sama, he is fighting her so that I might find a way to do so." Heishin felt his blood run cold... even his Sushin were admitting defeat to her.. yet they had just begun fighting. Heishin came back to reality when he saw Arei run her sword straight into Suzaku's back, blood trickling down her sword from it. Arei removed her sword and slashed it through the air, the blood on it 

landing on the ground. Arei did the same to her other sword, she didn't like having to bother with cleaning blood off of them after the fact. Arei glanced over at Heishin, he seemed petrified in his seat, she shook her head laughing a bit. 

"You really should learn to mind your own business Heishin, I would assume Enishi sama would have taught you that" Arei tapped her face where Enishi had struck Heishin, the discoloration was just now starting to fade. Genbu took her wide open stance as an opportunity to strike, he charged her bringing his staff in on the side, he was to late once again, Arei jumped out of the way before he was able to hit her, causing him to over step his attack. Arei drove one sword into his staff arm, and the other half way into his throat, Genbu opened his mouth as if to speak, but feel to the ground, dead. Heishin made a move for his gun that he had stored in a hidden compartment at the bottom of his seat, but found himself staring down the blade of Arei's sword... 

"Explain something to me Heishin, you first kill Aoshi rather then let me--"   
  
"For once you've made a mistake Arei-san" Arei froze suddenly not moving her sword from Heishin as she slowly turned her head to see the owner of the voice she had heard many times before,   
  
"Aberu.." One of the few people both Enishi and her put trust in, in the syndicate; she realized that she hadn't seen him at all since Enishi's disappearance, but as usual he had his head set up in a rather odd fashion, all of his hair was tied back in a bun, besides one section in the front which fell casually over his right eye.   
  
"You see it was actually us, no, more correctly this man behind me, Kyoujin, who killed Shinmori Aoshi." Arei hadn't noticed them, but behind Aberu stood two men. Kyoujin, who he had been referring to was held up by one other man. Both of them had a generous amount of blood covering their upper body, and trailing down at points. On further examination, she realized that little of the blood belonged to either of them, likely most of it was from Aoshi. In fact one who was standing didn't seem to have any blood on him that was his own. Kyoujin gripped his stomach and seemed to be having trouble breathing. Arei looked at Aberu perplexed, she still didn't understand "Ah it's a long story Arei-san, but as I hate to drag things out when it's not necessary, we're taking over the syndicate."   
  
"WHAT? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HELPING ME!!" Aberu narrowed his eyes at Heishin, who had made the rude exclaimation.   
  
"You're ruining Enishi-sama's work by being alive Heishin, something we intend to remedy soon enough." Aberu looked back at Arei, who didn't seem too pleased with the little information she had told him   
"Not good enough?" Aberu questioned, and sighed scratching his head for a moment.   
  
"We killed Aoshi for revenge, we consider the loss that the syndicate took to be to much dishonor to stand, you aren't part of this little group or else we'd have let you kill him. Besides, we needed somebody to kill Heishin's guards, I figured that you'd rush back here to kill him." Aberu paused seeming to laugh in embarrassment "Actually, they were really more intimidating looking compared to Aoshi, so we decided to go with him, none of us like to fight monsters such as they" he said gesturing the dead bodies of the guards. Aberu raised his hand to silence Arei when she looked to be about to speak "I know you won't mind us doing this, but... but we agreed not to search for Enishi-sama." Arei spun her sword around in her hand and stabbed it through Heishin's hand into the chair's armrest. She figured that would be enough to hold him, she didn't want to have to bother watching over him and listen to Aberu. She crossed her arms, waiting for the talkative Aberu to continue.   
  
"Enishi-sama doesn't want to be found Arei... after his loss against the battousai, he likely doesn't want to come back here... his entire life was based around revenge Arei, it's likely he feels the last ten years of his life have been a comple..." Arei closed her eyes and shot her fist out at Aberu, striking him across the face with an audible thud, she didn't want to listen to the same speech over again.   
  
"Aberu..." Arei said his name chuckling a bit "I would have hoped you could put more faith into Enishi-sama, he's not some pathetic wimp like you seem to think he's become." Arei began to shake violently, she had been able to ignore any anger at the world she'd felt so far, but it was finally starting to creep through "I refuse to let someone who doesn't intend to find Enishi-sama take control of the syndicate." When Arei opened her eyes she was shocked to see that Aberu was smiling at her, but his eyes betrayed him, seeming to be on the brink of tears.   
  
"I wish… I wish I could have your faith in Enishi-sama Arei…" Aberu reached into his kimono and pulled out a letter, "This letter was addressed to Sukau Yatsuru from Enishi sama, it just arrived recently…" Aberu paused seeming to have trouble telling her "it said not to find him… and that Yatsuru was to be in charge… Arei-san…" Aberu sighed, trying to find the right word to say, when he noticed a movement behind her. "AREI-SAN!!" A shot range out across the room, Arei stood motionless for a moment, and then fell to her knee's coughing excessively.   
  
"THAT'S ENOUGH!!" Heishin whined, waving his gun from one body to the next, he had actually been man enough to pull the sword out of his hand, Aberu noticed with surprise. "I CONTROL THE SYNDICATE!! NO ONE ELSE COULD POSSIBLY DO AS GOOD AS I AM!!" Aberu stared at Heishin blankly giving him a very unsettling feeling.   
  
"Kyoujin..." Aberu said simply. With that Kyoujin snapped his hand up with a deft flick of his wrist, launching a thin needle that stuck into Heishin's neck "Hmm… Amazing shot, especially with all the injury that you've had to sustained." Aberu walked forward kneeling down besides Arei, letting her rest against his shoulder "You see Heishin, your problem is that you aren't a fighter yourself, it takes someone who understands how to fight to properly command a group as large as this, that is why Yatsuru-san is best suited for this job." Heishin dropped the gun, and grabbed his neck, he could barely breath… he didn't want to die like this… he couldn't die… he still had so much to achieve… so much…   
  
"Finally" Came a voice behind Aberu. Natsurou, the man supporting Kyoujin spoke up again "I was getting impatient with that guy." Aberu looked at the man smiling a bit, which made him slightly uncomfortable, even when smiling the man always looked as though he had something planned, something that he couldn't stop.   
  
"Go tell Yatsuru… sama that Heishin has died."   
  
"Wait.." Kyoujin spoke up, he was stilling having trouble breathing "what about that girl?" Aberu looked her over, she was in bad shape, the bullet had punctured deep into her side, he wasn't sure if any organs were hit or not, but he always hoped for the best.   
  
"Just leave her to me." Kyoujin didn't look too satisfied with that "Oh don't worry, she's not a threat anymore, besides this entire building is on our side now, she's smart enough not to try anything"   
  
"Hey if you want to stay here that's fine with me, but you'd have to stand on your own pal." Natsurou said kind of amused "but since I'm your legs right now, you don't really have much of a choice." With that Natsurou practically dragged Kyoujin out of the room. When they were gone Aberu looked down at Arei, placing his hands on her face and pulling it up to his.   
  
"Don't die Arei-san, I'm going to take you to a hospital, don't you come back, and don't look to seek revenge. I know that Enishi is the only one who's ever bested you in battle, and that he means more to you than even your family, but Yatsuru is very competent, and I cant help but think you'd loose against him, strong though you are. I can't have you getting killed." Arei barely had her eyes open, she was on the brink of passing out from the pain, it was worse then he thought, "It's ok Arei-san, this way you'll be able to find Enishi-sama won't you?" With that Aberu lifted her off the ground, holding her in his arms, he was glad Enishi sama had shown him the secrets of the entire building, he knew all the ways it had to offer him, and he'd have no trouble leaving the building quickly.   



	4. Chapter 4

Yahiko entered the room, arms crossed over his chest, the Kimono he had taken from Kenshin's room draping over his shoulders, flowing behind him making him appear to be all the more masterful to his new pupils, this was THEIR sensei. Yahiko stopped when he reached the center of the room, and turned observing the faces of his students, Heh heh, I've got them wrapped around my finger. Yahiko sat down crossing his legs and throwing the Kimono off his shoulders, then in a loud, over exaggerated voice yelled out for all the students in the room, and the people in the next two rooms over to hear

"I Myojin Yahiko, during the absence of Kamiya Kaoru will be your sensei and continue to teach you in the honorable ways of the Kamiya Kasshin until her--" He was interrupted by a sharp impact to the head, dealt by the very Kaoru in mention. Under normal circumstances he would have leaped into a battle with her, but unfortunately she had the unfair defense of being pregnant, so Kenshin insisted he not start any fights with her. 

"Yahiko, I asked you to train my students, not put on a kabuki for them." Kaoru had no intension of losing any of her new students because of Yahiko wanting to show off to them. Kaoru looked over them, they had grown much more serious when she walked into the room, Yahiko may be able to win over some applause, but she still had their respect. Also looking as cute as I do helps a lot, Kaoru said giggling to herself, 

"AH! Misao san!" all of the students rang out adoringly as Misao entered, rubbing her eyes, as usual she had slept in. Yahiko jumped up and started pushing Misao and Kaoru out of the room

"I'M TRYING TO RUN A CLASS HERE DAMN IT!! YOU TWO AREN'T HELPING ANYTHING!!" 

"YOUR YELLING IS THE THING THAT BROUGHT ME IN HERE!! I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP!!" Misao retorted, planting her fist against Yahiko's face, sending him across the room.  

"YAY! MISAO-SAMA!!" 

"THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT!!" 

"YOU'RE THE BEST!!!" Misao looked over at Kaoru's students, each grinning at her widely, she usually found their drooling over her kind of amusing, but not so early in the morning, it was just annoying. 

"Yahiko, get control of your students." Misao said simply as she left the dojo with Kaoru. 

"Alright, now that that distraction is gone, lets get down to work" Yahiko said getting to his feet

"Ah my Misao-sama..."

"YOUR MISAO??" 

"HEY ! YOU CAN BICKER ABOUT WHO DESERVES HER MOST LATER!!" Yahiko yelled out trying to regain the control he had lost so quickly

"YEAH MY MISAO, NO ONE ELSE DESERVES HER!!" At that all the students went at it, Yahiko gave up, finding the only way to control them was how he always did; he took hold of his shinai, and jumped into the crowd of warring students. 

Kenshin sighed laughing to himself, this was how it always was when Kaoru left Yahiko in charge, Misao would come in for some reason or another, and all the students would get into arguments about who deserved her most, actually, they would end up doing that whether  Misao came in or not. Not when Kaoru was around though, they would do exactly as they were told, never talking back, besides Yahiko of course, but he had lessened up on his insults since it enraged the other students. 

Yahiko would have a hard time taking care of the dojo until Kaoru was capable of taking over again, assuming she ever was, Kenshin had suggested simply closing down the dojo for now, but Kaoru and Yahiko both went crazy at the idea, 

"Besides" Kaoru said "I need to start being harder on him so that he won't get to cocky, trying to keep control of a group of boys who don't respect him will be just the thing to remind him of his place" Kenshin wasn't sure if that was a good idea, but he had to admit it would be a good experience for him. 

Kenshin couldn't help but feel that Aoshi's death as just the first step in something much larger, possibly a recreation of the Jinchuu, Saitoh had informed Kenshin that it was likely the work of the now dieing syndicate that Enishi had control of.  Due to this, Yahiko getting all the training in taking command of a situation, and battle tactics would help them encase something did happen, 

"ALRIGHT!! Now I hope you've all learned who your master is, and we'll have no more outbreaks when those busu's Kaoru and Misao enter here!!" Or it might be counter productive... 

"Yahiko.. keep it down, your shouting is hurting my head." Misao lay in her bed, trying to fall back asleep; it wasn't early for anyone else, so she couldn't blame them, just for her.

"You disturbed Misao-sama!!"

"And saying they're ugly, HAVE YOU NO SHAME!?!?" 

"PREPARE YOURSELF YAHIKO!!!"  She did wish they would respect her wishes at least a little, she wasn't able sleep last night.. no more correctly, she didn't want to. Images of the night they had found Aoshi's body flashed through her mind in her dreams, she didn't want to see them anymore. 

It had been two years since Aoshi had... fallen, she still couldn't say died, not even in her mind. It was still so surreal.  She moved to the Kamiya dojo about a year and a half ago, she wanted to be around lots of people, lots of noise, in hopes that maybe it could replace the loss of Aoshi, it helped a little, but not enough to stop the tears from coming on cold nights when her mind would wonder...  

The other half her reason for coming was so she could cry... After a few months of wandering around in a listless depression, Misao noticed how worried the other people of the Aoiya were, so she placed a facade over her face, smiling all through the day as if nothing was wrong, and weeping into the far depths of the night. It didn't work as well as she'd hoped, the members of the Aoiya knew her to well, and were able to see through her disguise to quickly for her to take, so she had to come her, it was the only way she'd be able to have any peace... she came here to be around noise.. and she came here to be alone.. Misao laughed at how contradictory that was, but it was how she felt. 

Kaoru placed a hand on Misao's door, considering wither to enter or not, she wanted to go talk to her, wanted to help her cope with the loss of Aoshi, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do anything. Misao had always smiled and said

"It would be silly to morn for people that are already dead, especially someone like Aoshi-sama." This sentiment was supposedly how she always felt when someone died, but Kaoru could see through it, her heart was broken into more pieces then anyone could ever fix. 

Kaoru stepped outside, as she expected Kenshin was busy doing the laundry; he had insisted she not even consider doing it, actually he pretty much told her not to do a thing. She was afraid he would start trying to actually feed her, Kaoru laughed the thought away, she doubted Kenshin would be that protective... at least she hoped he couldn't be. 

Kenshin looked over at Kaoru and smiled as he noticed her, she smiled back at him, but for some reason it seemed forced. She figured it was likely due to Misao, or because of Kenshin's current behavior; after the fight with Enishi Kenshin's energy seemed to decrease more and more, he stopped training Yahiko when he had defeated Enishi, and hadn't picked up his Sakabato for a year. 

Kaoru sighed; although Kenshin smiled more then he ever had before something was somehow missing. She almost felt as if she was holding him down, as if somewhere deep within him was a restlessness; a will to wander. He withheld it from her, whatever it was. And whenever she thought she could bring it up she stopped mid-sentence, afraid to offend him, but more than anything, afraid he wouldn't answer.

Arei walked down the street of Tokyo, sword being dragged along the ground as she did. She didn't really care that she was drawing attention to herself; she was too tired to think about something so trivial. Arei looked over the dojo, this would be her last hope in finding Enishi, for the last two years she'd been searching for him, been going days without food, and hardly ever had a place to stay, all for nothing, so she was forced to try and get information out of Kenshin. 

Arei stood staring blankly at the Kamiya Kasshin dojo for a few minutes before she was able to focus again. Before she was able to knock the door opened, and a rather girly looking red haired man opened it… Kenshin..

 "Anou, Daijoubu de gozaru yo?" Kenshin asked the girl he saw at the door. She looked very warn and tired. Her clothes were tattered and she was covered in all manner of travel dust. She was carrying what looked like an expensive sword at her side, or rather dragging it. It appeared that she had been using it as a sort of walking stick. Kenshin winced instinctively at the disrespect of the weapon, although he doubted it. She looked at him a little blankly, as if trying to focus as she leaned to the side a bit.

"Enishi sama is.." she started, but Kenshin could only imagine what she was about to say as she collapsed in the middle of her sentence. He caught her.


	5. Authors note

Authors Note:

12-25-2001—Chapter 2

Merry x-mas, get a new chapter and lose an' old favorite, nice gift huh?

Ok well I was having a lot of "plot" issue's that I had to work out before the second chapter could be written, and also with the original copies of it I was having trouble writing out the content in it, I started over I think three times, so, sorry about the long wait. Actually Susan when I read your review I was inspired "Alright Mac, time to get your act together" so I sat down and wrote it. Thanks a lot to Yasai-chan for reading the painfully horrid original copies of the second chapter, and for all the tips she gave me on the best way to write certain things out. [oh and also for letting me put up the author's notes the way she does ^.^]

  
Oh for those of you who aren't sure who's who in the Oniwaban group, Shiro is the guy with spiked wavy hair, Kuro is the bigger guy, Okon has the long flat hair, and Omasu is the .. "other" female in the group. [don't ask me why but I always wanted to put two of them together] I'm gonna try to get the next chapter out a lot faster then this one since I now have a lot better idea of what I'm doing.

12-31-2001 [for only a couple more hours ^,^] Chapter.. uh.. 4.. I think

Ok sorry for the loonnggg wait!! I've been, and am at Yasai-chan's house so I didn't get a chance to finish that chapter until today, hehe thanks for letting me use your computer ^.^ [hrm, seems kinda silly to write that seeing how I can just tell that to her… shrugs] 

I'm likely to go a lot more for comedy now, as you can probably tell with the little Yahiko bit ^^ [I had so much fun writing that part of the story ^^] Oh, and I tried to make Kaoru really happy, but I just couldn't, them two together.. eh… [ah, sorry Susan, pleeasse keep reading my ficcie ^^`] Ok, well sorry if I sound whiney, but please review, I can't gloat to Yasai-chan unless I somehow get more then her…. And plus she refuses to review until I get 30 o' them y,y [oh thanks susan an' firuze for your reviews ^.^] 

I doubt Yasai-chan will let me type on the computer again [I take awhile an' get easily distracted so its understandable ^^``] so I likely won't have another update until Saturday/Sunday, but I promise to get one out then ^.^


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